In a rather unorthodox move, the three members of the Orange County Board of Elections submitted four plans for the state Board of Elections to consider when determining the county’s early voting schedule.

The state board will make that decision on Thursday for Orange County and the 32 other counties across the Tar Heel state that could not come to a unanimous plan for early voting.

Orange County does differ from the other counties because of how many plans were ultimately submitted to the state board.

The local board members took public comment and discussed their individual plans during a more-than-two-hour meeting in mid-August.

Community members packed the board room to ask for expanded hours and sites and for the board to include Sunday voting.

After some haggling among board members, a plan was agreed to by two members of the board – one Democrat and one Republican. Because the other Republican member did not endorse the plan, he was able to submit his own minority plan to the state.

But the week following the meeting, two additional plans were submitted to the state – one from each of the two board members who originally agreed to a compromise. Orange County Board of Elections director Tracy Reams attributed the additional plans to a miscalculation of early voting hours in the compromise plan agreed to at the original meeting.

Others have pointed to a memo from North Carolina GOP executive director Dallas Woodhouse as reason for the late fireworks; the memo directed local board members to object to any expansion of early voting hours.

The early voting chaos was brought about when the United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down North Carolina’s Voter ID law in late July. The court wrote in its decision that the state had targeted African-American voters with “almost surgical precision” when crafting the Voter ID law, which had provisions limiting the number of days in the early voting period, while also eliminating same-day registration, out of precinct voting and preregistration of teenagers.

The United States Supreme Court also denied Governor Pat McCrory’s request for a stay of that Fourth Circuit ruling.

The state board is set to meet at 10 o’clock Thursday morning and will take public comment before ultimately deciding the early voting sites and hours for Orange County. That meeting will be held at 441 North Harrington Street in Raleigh. The public can also listen to proceedings by dialing (415) 655-0060, code 482-690-073, according to the state board.

Related Stories
‹
Orange County Early Voting Finished Up Nearly 10,000 Votes from 2012
Early voting reached its conclusion on Saturday with a record number of Orange County residents casting their ballot before Election Day. 59,766 voters in Orange County took part in early voting with Election Day still to come on Tuesday. Polls showed that voters were eager to get to the ballot box after a particularly long […]
Early Voting in Orange County Outpacing 2012
Early voting numbers in Orange County are continuing to outpace the 2012 turnout numbers as we enter the final week of early voting. Through Saturday, 37,514 Orange County residents had already voted; that is almost exactly 9,000 more votes than were cast through the same point in 2012 – 28,515. Carrboro Town Hall continues to […]
State Board Finalizes Orange County Early Voting Plan
Nearly a full month after the Orange County Board of Elections met to hash out an early voting plan and almost 11 hours into the meeting of the state Board of Elections on Thursday, a compromise plan was ordered for early voting in Orange County. The state board heard from all three members of the […]
Two Additional Orange County Early Voting Plans Being Submitted to State Board of Elections
As it turns out, the majority and minority early-voting plans presented at the Orange County Board of Elections meeting last week will not be the only ones going before the state board for ultimate approval. The local board had a 2-1 split when discussing plans at its meeting last week that was attended by a […]
No Sunday Voting in Proposed Early Voting Plan in Orange County
Local Boards of Elections across North Carolina have been holding meetings recently to adjust early-voting plans after the United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down provisions of North Carolina’s Voter ID law last month. Beyond presenting a photo ID approved by the state at the polls to vote, the law that was struck […]
50,000 Early Voting Ballots Cast in Orange County, 3.6 Million in North Carolina Overall
Early voting in North Carolina ended on Saturday and more than 50,000 Orange County residents cast their ballots at voting sites before the deadline. The Orange County Board of Elections reported that 50,562 residents cast early ballots at the six early voting sites across the county. Here’s a breakdown of how each early voting site […]
State Board Sets Meeting to Decide Early Voting Plan for Orange County
The North Carolina Bipartisan Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement has set a meeting to establish early voting hours and locations for counties that could not agree to a plan at the local level. Orange County is among the 15 counties still awaiting finalized early voting plans for this fall’s elections. The four-member Orange County […]
Public Comment Open After Orange County Submits 3 Early Voting Plans to State
Orange County’s four-member Board of Elections has submitted three proposals to the North Carolina Bipartisan Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement regarding early voting in the county. Orange County is one of 16 counties across the state that was unable to unanimously agree to early voting locations and hours before the July 20 deadline. The […]
State Officials Once Again Tasked with Setting Orange County Early Voting Details
The four members of the Orange County Board of Elections could not agree to unanimously vote on an early voting plan on Tuesday ahead of this year’s elections. That means, as it did in 2016, the state Board of Elections will ultimately establish the early voting hours and locations in Orange County. County Board of […]
Orange County Early Voting Surpasses 2012 Total
Early voting totals in Orange County have officially passed the total early voting turnout from the 2012 presidential election with two days of early voting remaining. The final 2012 early voting total was 50,234. As of the closing of polls Thursday, 50,861 votes had been cast in Orange County this cycle. Early voting got started […]
›